On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and others stormed the Moncada Barracks in Cuba to obtain weapons. The armed group consisted of about 135 men and women, mostly young men under the age of 30 belonging to the working class. The average age of the group was about 26, from the oldest in the group at 49 to the youngest at 17, and only three were over 40. The majority were laborers, more than two-thirds had no education other than elementary school, and two had never attended school.
About 15 government soldiers and three policemen were killed in the fighting, and about 23 soldiers and five policemen were wounded. About 9 insurgent groups were defrauded and about 11 were injured. About 18 insurgents were arrested at the hospital and were immediately shot dead. The bodies were scattered in the barracks to make it look like they died in battle. About 34 people arrested over the next three days were killed after they confessed. Castro and others who fled to the nearby mountains and forests were later arrested. Most of the young men in the armed groups were captured by government forces and despicably slaughtered. Only a small number were killed in the fighting. Most of them were captured by the government soldiers in hospitals and massacred gruesomely. After helping their wounded comrades in battle, they were arrested, tortured, and brutally murdered.
The attack on the Moncada barracks occurred on July 26, 1953. It became the incident that started the Cuban Revolution by the rebels led by Fidel Castro. Although that raid failed, Castro came to power in 1959 and named it the July 26 Movement (Movimiento 26Julio or M26-7). Many rebels were killed in the raids, and many survivors who were arrested were massacred shortly afterwards. Horrifying and grisly photos of government forces torturing and slaughtering rebel groups were released to the Cuban public on the news, sparking an uproar and revolt. In a political trial, Castro, a lawyer, and others were sentenced to long prison terms after plea bargaining for the massacre of prisoners by government forces. Castro, who defended himself, was eventually sentenced to 16 years of internment in the largest prison on the Isle of Pines.
The Cuban Revolution became an armed conflict perpetuated by Fidel Castro against the military government of President Fulgencio Batista, beginning with the July 26, 1953 raid on the Moncada barracks. Castro remained in prison until the Batista regime was granted a grand pardon two years later. The Cuban Revolution ended on January 1, 1959, when rebels ousted the Batista regime and replaced it with a communist dictatorship.
